A medical device such as a cardiac pacemaker typically receives new control data several times during its operation, with the control data including matters such as changes to the operating parameters of the cardiac pacemaker, software or firmware updates or commands for the cardiac pacemaker, etc. When programming an implant such as a cardiac pacemaker, a programming session may involve the alteration of some parameters and the issuance of associated commands to the implant, such as a request to restart statistics or to begin detection of patient data, and the transmission of the parameters and commands to the implant.
When a clinical programmer programs the implant in a clinic, a control datum may be transmitted within a few seconds to the implant, with control data being transmitted to the implant in succession. When control data are remotely programmed and transmitted to the implant, the transmission may take as long as several days. In any event, control data are transmitted in succession, i.e., sequentially.
As more control data are to be transmitted in sequence and as the transmission grows longer, the more probable it is that at least one control datum will be transmitted incorrectly or incompletely. During a long transmission, an interruption of the transmission by a loss of connection can occur. In addition, during such a transmission, a chronological or logical assignment between different items of data may be lost. The control data thus arrive incomplete or corrupted at the implant, which may result in a malfunction of the implant upon an implementation/execution of the control data (e.g., acceptance of the operating parameters or overriding of the firmware). When firmware is updated via remote programming, the problem additionally results that many reprogrammings must be executed, with only one containing the new implant control software. All reprogrammings connected with the update must become active jointly. If all parts are not provided in the implant, the reprogramming may not occur.